TELEGRAPH OF THE WEEK: Did anybody not figure out really early on that
the monastery was indeed a cover for a Vulcan spy station? Given this series apparent
mission to deconstruct the Vulcans, it was the - ahem - logical assumption to make as soon
as the Andorians made the accusation. There's no question that the "Vulcans never
lie" credo is nothing but a myth, belied any number of times by Spock in the original
series, but does anything we've ever seen suggest that they could be this duplicitous?
That they would abrogate a treaty, and then use Kolinahr seekers as a cover (and as
humanoid shields)? I will grant that it's an interesting take on the Vulcans, but I think
it's going a little too far. While the presence of the spy facility was expected, Archer's
actions weren't. Whether you agree with it or not, the fact that he gave detailed
information about it to the Andorians is something that should have significant
consequences. This may be the first big test of Enterprise's continuity; there
really ought to be some follow-up to this, such as Admiral Forrest's Vulcan advisors
insisting that the Enterprise be recalled or that Archer be removed from command,
and if we don't see it... well, I'll bitch...

ILLOGIC OF THE WEEK: The Vulcans go to all the trouble of building and
hiding a mammoth underground spy station, and then cover the door with a sheet? And allow
the door to be opened by anyone who can push a button? Even after the monastery had
already been searched by the Andorians a couple of times before?

VICIOUS CYCLE OF THE WEEK: The Script Generator got caught in a
hiccup, I guess. Otherwise, why would we need multiple scenes of Archer mouthing off to
the Andorians, getting beat up, going back to the hostage's room, bleeding, moaning,
mouthing off to the Andorians, getting beat up... The last instance was particularly
questionable, as Archer deliberately gets himself beat up so that he can toss a figurine
into the mouth of the sculpture, in order to determine if it really does lead to the
catacombs. There are just a couple of problems. First, did Archer have any reason to
believe he would even survive another visit to the Andorians? Second, wouldn't it have
been easier, and a lot less painful, to simply have Tucker walk up to the back of
sculpture from within the catacombs, peek out, and see if it in fact leads to the atrium?

NEW LINGUISTICS OF THE WEEK: I suppose I'll just have to quit harping
about this, now that Enterprise has apparently abandoned any attempt to portray
communicating with aliens as being a challenge. What we see in this episode leaves two
possibilities: that the Vulcan monks and the Andorians (who have never even seen a human
being) were speaking English the whole time, or that the Enterprise crew is now
in possession of Psychic Universal Translator technology, one which can instantly
translate the Andorian language and which "knows" not to translate the monk's
"blessing to travelers" into English automatically. I know it's a storytelling
pain in the ass to have to deal with alien languages, but it's a shame that communication
has gotten so easy so soon in this series. They might as well have left Hoshi on Sluggo
World too.

NEW TECHNOLOGY OF THE WEEK: Similarly, the transporter seems to have
gotten a lot more reliable all of a sudden. In "Strange New
World," the device was unable to distinguish human particles from plant matter.
Now it's able to beam three people at once without scrambling their particles? If
anything, it should be harder for the transporter to distinguish between the particles of
different human beings than between a human and a leaf. Again, it would seem that the Enterprise
staff is finding it difficult to live within the technological limitations they set for
themselves in "Broken Bow," and I'm sorry to say I'm
not surprised. Well, no, I'm not sorry to say it...

CONTRIVED TECHNOLOGY OF THE WEEK: The plot-convenient properties of
the Andorians' scanning equipment were pretty obvious. They can detect what weaponry a
vessel in orbit has, but can't pin down the location of new biosigns mere meters away. Or,
for that matter, a gigantic underground Vulcan facility...

NO TECHNOLOGY OF THE WEEK: Reed, resident paranoid and weapons
fetishist, correctly observes that Enterprise should have scanned the area of the
monastery for other vessels before sending the shuttle. But how could even the most
passive of scans, such as what would be needed to determine where to land, miss an alien
vessel parked less than a kilometer away?

NEW GEOGRAPHY OF THE WEEK: Early on, Archer notes that the Vulcan
outpost is "a few light years away." Of course, a "few light years"
should take several days or possibly weeks at Enterprise's stated top speed, but
I never got the impression it took anywhere near that long. Space may be big, but it's
getting smaller all the time in Enterprise-land.

TEMPORAL ANOMALY OF THE WEEK: T'Pol says that she's been assigned to
the Enterprise for nine weeks. Even without counting "Broken
Bow," during which she wasn't an official crew member, I'm not sure that takes
into account all of the Adventure we've seen to date, particularly "Unexpected," which seemed to have taken place over several
weeks. I guess there's a good reason we're not getting dated Star Logs anymore.

WELFARE RECIPIENT OF THE WEEK: I keep meaning to close down this
Weekly, but I can't help it. And, no, I'm not giving it to Jeffrey Combs, who was
appropriate for his role, but to Bruce French, a Star Trek Repeat Offender whose
Vulcan Act was almost painful to watch, to the point where I half-expected his character
to turn out not to be Vulcan.

LAUGH LINE OF THE WEEK: Tucker, apparently dead serious, opines that
"You'd think they could find what they're looking for with those antennas of
theirs." Zoiks! Like, why would you think that, Shaggy?

RECYCLING OF THE WEEK: They're sure getting their money's worth out of
that Cave set...

MYSTERY OF THE WEEK: One of the Andorian thugs claims that T'Pol
smells different - less dusty - than other Vulcans. Just a come-on, or another clue that
T'Pol may not be what she seems, like a temporal cold warrior from the less-dusty future?